In memoriam: 7 of our favorite Sam Neill films
Ars Technica · LC · trust 38/100
a character actor for the ages In memoriam: 7 of our favorite Sam Neill films The actor, who starred in 1993’s Jurassic Park , died Monday in Sydney, Australia, at the age of 78.
107 Credit: Universal Pictures Credit: Universal Pictures Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav New Zealand actor Sam Neill, who starred as Dr. Alan Grant in the 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park and its 2022 sequel, Jurassic World Dominion , died on Monday in Sydney, Australia. He was 78.
While American audiences likely know Neill best for Jurassic Park , he had a long and varied career in film and television. His sheer versatility won him fans around the world. He played the grown Damien in Omen III: The Final Conflict ; a Russian officer in The Hunt for Red October ; and even made brief cameos (as an actor playing Odin in a theatrical troupe) in Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder . (The less said about 1997’s space horror travesty, Event Horizon , the better, although it has its fans, and Neill made the most of his role.) Yet some of his best performances were in smaller, critically acclaimed independent films such as 1993’s Oscar-winning The Piano .
On television, Neill earned his first Golden Globe nomination for the lead role in Reilly, Ace of Spies in the 1980s. He was nominated for both an Emmy and a second Golden Globe for playing the titular Arthurian wizard in the 1998 miniseries Merlin . He played Cardinal Wolsley in The Tudors , and was part of the ensemble cast in the (excellent) 2015 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None . Neill was magnetic as the ruthless CI Major Chester Campbell in Peaky Blinders —an antagonist and romantic rival of Cillian Murphy’s Tommy Shelby.
Neill was also something of an entrepreneur, owning the Two Paddocks winery in New Zealand. “I’d like the vineyard to support me, but I’m afraid it’s the other way around,” Neill told The West Australian in 2008 of his dual careers. “It’s not a very economic business. It’s ridiculously time- and money-consuming. I would not do it if it was not so satisfying.” He liked to name his farm’s livestock after friends in the film industry, Helena Bonham Carter and Taika Waititi among them.
While doing publicity for 2022’s Jurassic World Dominion , Neill noticed his glands were swollen. He was diagnosed with stage 3 blood cancer and took time off from acting for chemotherapy. By this April, the chemo was no longer working, and Neill underwent CAR T-cell therapy. He was actually cancer-free when he died, according to family members, who described his passing as “sudden and unexpected.” An acting colleague told NBC News that Neill’s immune system was compromised from the cancer treatments and he’d had pneumonia shortly before his death, but no immediate cause of death has been provided.
[UPDATE, 7/16/2026] : Neill’s longtime representative, Philip Grenz, said that the actor’s cause of death was indeed pneumonia.
Sam Neill played an aging general with a dark secret in the 2015 Agatha Christie adaptation And Then There Were None . BBC Neill faced off against gang leader Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) as Major Chester Campbell in the first two seasons of Peaky Blinders . BBC/Netflix Neill faced off against gang leader Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) as Major Chester Campbell in the first two seasons of Peaky Blinders . BBC/Netflix Sam Neill played an aging general with a dark secret in the 2015 Agatha Christie adaptation And Then There Were None . BBC Neill faced off against gang leader Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) as Major Chester Campbell in the first two seasons of Peaky Blinders . BBC/Netflix Naturally, there was a generous outpouring of tributes from industry colleagues. Neill was, by all accounts, a veritable Mensch with a warmly low-key and self-deprecating personality . “Like everyone who knew and worked with Sam, I admired him and adored him in equal measure,” Peaky Blinders star Murphy said . “He was one of the kindest, funniest, and gentlest people, and one of the finest actors. RIP.”
“Sam was exceptionally collaborative,” said Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg . “It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him. Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Dern also weighed in. “Sam was my beloved lifetime friend,” she told Variety . “He showed me the depths of loyalty, protectiveness and love always with the driest of wit. He was a true and noble gentleman, wrapped up in my dream leading man. I will love you forever, Dr. Alan Grant.”
“Even though you didn’t even remember it, I still think your best work is when you explain space travel by poking a pen through a piece of paper in Event Horizon (also the awesome eyes bit), and playing the antichrist, Damien Thorn, in Omen 3 ,” Waititi posted on Instagram. “I’m not sure what other roles you did but whatever. You are so loved and will be sorely missed by us all. Love you and see you soon, sweet Nigel.” (Nigel is Neill’s given name: Sir Nigel John Dermott Neill .)
Nor was it just Hollywood celebrities who mourned the actor’s passing. “There was no aspect of him that was: ‘Hey I’m Sam Neill and I’m walking down the main street,’” Russell Garbut, a resident of the tiny New Zealand township of Clyde that Neill regularly visited, told the Guardian . “There was none of that sort of bullshit. I think he was an extremely down-to-earth guy, and was—and it sounds disparaging—but just a local, he fitted into the community.”
In Neill’s honor, here are our picks for seven of his best film performances, in chronological order.
Director Gillian Armstrong’s 1979 period drama,…
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